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Arvydas Sabonis

2K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  Damian Necronamous 
#1 ·
Somebody posted this at Draftnet I was wondering if all these are true quotes. (I got this when it was still good). And would Sabonis have been a HOF if he came earlier?

Sabonis was a great player and I don't see how anyone can dispute that. It's fair to say he didn't do much in the NBA but that doesn't mean that he wasn't great. Europeans can ball and Sabonis was one of the best ever. Here's some quotes for anyone that's interested. "He's about winning. You can tell that without him saying much. He's not in awe of anybody. He knows he can play with anybody. He knows what he can do." -Rod Strickland, Washington Wizards "If big people don't come out and guard him, he'll kill people with the three-point line." -Bucky Buckwater, Portland VP "He's the strongest player I have ever played against." -Shaquille O'Neal, LA Lakers "That guy, without his injuries, would have been better than David Robinson. Believe me, he was that good. Know him long time. In 1985, he was a beast. He ran the floor like Ralph Sampson, could shoot the three, dunk. He would have been an NBA all-star 10 years in a row. It's true, I tell you." -Dino Radja, former Boston Celtic "If he gets inside, he is so skilled-- he's got that hook shot and he's big." -Chris Dudley, New York Knicks "...scoring down low, passing, and rebounding. He's a great ballplayer." -Kenny Anderson, Boston Celtics "The toughest one is Sabonis. That dude must be 7-5 or 7-6, and he's leaning on you, so when you go to jump, you've got 300 pounds on your back." -Jayson Williams, on the most challenging center. "Sabonis gives (the Blazers) a presence that most teams just don't have. When you got a guy as big as he is who can do the things that he does, it creates problems." -George Karl, Seattle coach "He was my idol and he still is. He was the greatest basketball player in the world, and I just tried to copy all of his moves. I couldn't though, because he had too many." - Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland Cavs "Sabonis makes it tough with the stuff he is able to do." - Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves on matching up against Sabonis "People who saw him play at a young age put (Sabonis) in the top five centers of all-time, when you watch him now and think about it, you can see it, he's got the 3-point shot, the sky hook, and he can beat people off the dribble. I wish I could have played with him when he was younger and even now. He has such a great feel for the game, and a lot of the guys could benefit more from his abilities if they had a little better feel. He can read plays before they happen. He's like Bird, Magic, and Jordan in that sense. They see it a couple of plays ahead." -Mike Dunleavy, former player/coach "He's now 30 years old, but I remember him when I played against him when he was 21 or 22, he was the best center I ever saw in my life. I can say easy he was a better player than Shaq, Ewing, Hakeem. . . . I'm telling you, he was the best center I ever saw in my life. "He was passing the ball, dribbling, shooting three-pointers, jumping. He did everything. Now he's lost his speed because of injury, but still he's a smart player. He knows basketball." -Vlade Divac, Sacramento Kings. "If you pass it to Arvydas, he will pass it back to you." - Sarunas Marciulionis, speaking on Sabonis' unselfishness. "I don't know why a player like that didn't come into the league a long time ago... " - former Timberwolves coach Bill Blair after the game. "Sabonis' surprises everybody in the league, I know they thought he could play, but I don't think they knew how well he can..." - Cliff Robinson, Phoenix Suns. "Arvydas Sabonis... ? Fun." - Gary Payton and Damon Stoudamire during a Nike Fun Police Ad. ""He's an oversized Globetrotter from overseas... " - Rumeal Robinson, former teammate. "When he has the ball, cut to the basket and whatever you do, keep your hands up, or he'll make you look bad." - Harvey Grant on Sabonis' passing. "I thought he was as good a prospect as I had ever seen. He was stronger than Bill Walton. I couldn't get over what potential he had. Such a great raw talent." - Coach Bobby Knight "I've watched him (Sabonis) for years, he's great. All you have to do is just move. He reads the defense so well." - Scottie Pippen on Sabonis' passing. "I know a lot of people are going to look at that pick as something less than it is. Please do not. I remember back in Golden State or Milwaukee, there was a guy who came along named Sabonis. I wish I would have drafted him. I'm not saying (Wang) is a Sabonis, but I kicked myself for a long time." - Don Nelson, after drafting Wang ZhiZhi. "I wasn't looking, and he threw me a pass... I don't get too many of those from (Atlanta Hawks center Dikembe) Mutombo" - Steve Smith, after getting hit by a Sabonis pass during one of his first practices with the Trailblazers. "He has great awareness of what's going on the floor," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "The more experience he gets playing people in this league, the better he's going to be." Said Utah's John Stockton: "He's a skilled big guy with wonderful hands. He's a talent, and he's an unknown talent because most guys haven't seen him yet." "I don't know how many minutes he'll be able to play," Portland point guard Rod Strickland said, "but the time he's out there he's going to do some real good things for us. He has a great feel for the game, and I think he'll show more things each time he's out there." "Give him credit," said Utah's Karl Malone, who took his turn guarding Portland's newest star. "He came out and stayed poised and did the things he had to do. He can play in this league, there's no question about that."
 
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